READING STRATEGIES THAT
WORK
A Report to the Carnegie Corporation
READING NEXT
A Vision for Action and Research in
Middle and High School Literacy
© 2004
FIVE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
National Reading Panel
PHONEMIC AWARENESS
 The
ability to hear, identify, and manipulate
individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken
words.
 It
is important because it improves the
student’s reading, reading comprehension,
and helps students learn to spell.
PHONETICS

The relationship between the letters,
(graphemes) of written language, and the
individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken
language.

It is important because it leads to an
understanding of the alphabetic principle—the
predictable relationship between written letters
and spoken sounds.
FLUENCY
 The
ability to read a text accurately,
quickly, and with expression.
 It
is important because it frees a student to
understand what they read.
VOCABULARY
 The
words we must know to communicate
effectively.
 It is important because beginning readers
use their oral vocabulary to make sense of
the words.
 It is important because readers must know
what most of the words mean before they
can understand what they are reading.
COMPREHENSION
 The
active process of constructing
meaning from the text.
 It
is important because it is the reason for
reading.
CLASSROOM INTRUCTION THAT
WORKS
Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack
CLASSROOM INTRUCTION THAT
WORKS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Identifying Similarities and Differences
Summarizing and Note Taking
Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
Homework and Practice
Nonlinguistic Representation
Learning Groups
Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
Generating and Testing Hypothesis
Cues, Question, and Advance Organizers
Identifying Similarities
and Differences
Highly effective ways include:
 Comparing/Contrasting—between things or ideas
 Classifying—grouping things into categories based
on characteristics
 Creating Metaphors—comparing topics that are
different, but have the same patterns or
characteristics
 Creating Analogies—relationships between pairs of
concepts
Summarizing and
Note Taking
Requires students to:
 Condense information
 Synthesize material
 Prioritize data
 Restate information
 Organize concepts, topics, and details

A complex process
Reinforcing Effort and
Providing Recognition
Rewards can be powerful motivators if they are
contingent on attaining a stated goal or standard,
and if they are symbolic.
People generally attribute success on any task to 1 of 4
causes:
o
o
o
o
Ability
Other people
Luck
Effort—improves achievement, a motivating tool
Nonlinguistic
Representation


We store knowledge in 2 ways: linguistically
(with words) and nonlinguistically (with
images)
Research indicates that:
o
o
we should use a variety of activities to help
students represent knowledge
Nonlinguistic representations are more effective if
they elaborate on student knowledge
Learning
Groups


Cooperative Learning has a strong research
base to support its use.
Research indicates that students who work in
groups consistently outperform students who
don’t.
Setting Objectives and
Providing Feedback




Gives students direction and helps them
think about their own learning
Narrows the students’ focus
Feedback explains what students are doing
correctly and incorrectly
Students can give feedback to each other
Generating and
Testing Hypothesis


Students are applying knowledge
Research shows that asking students to
explain their hypotheses and conclusions
enhances their learning
Cues, Question, and
Advance Organizers



Activating prior knowledge
Research shows that cues and questions
should focus on what is important, not on
what is unusual.
Focus on “higher level” question to focus on
deeper learning
READING NEXT
Instructional Elements
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Direct explicit comprehension instruction
Effective instructional principles embedded in
content
Motivated and self directed learning
Text-based collaborative learning
Strategic tutoring
Diverse texts
Intensive writing
A technology component
On-going formative assessment
READING NEXT
Infrastructional Elements
10. Extended time for literacy
11. Professional development
12. Ongoing summative assessment of
students and programs
13. Teacher teams
14. Leadership
15. A comprehensive and coordinated
literacy program
What is the OPTIMAL MIX?

Professional Development
 Ongoing formative assessment of
students
 Ongoing summative assessment
of students and programs
SAY SOMETHING
Final Thought
“If you are not effective, it is irrelevant how
efficient you are.”
-Janet Allen